Eating sand?

[Clementine_3]

Turtle just finished his breakfast (clover, dandelion and spring mix) and then, on purpose as he eats from a dish, took a mouthful of sand and ate it. I have play sand and aspen for his substrate and this is the first time I've seen him do that. He wasn't eating right when I got him and it took him a while to eat more than romaine but he is finally eating much better now but I'm guessing something is still missing in his system? What would cause him to do that?

 

[Yvonne G]

If that's going to be what he does, then I suggest you find a new substrate for him. I've seen radiographs of baby desert tortoises who had ingested sand and it wasn't pretty. All of them died due to their impaction.

When a mammal licks dirt they need salt in their diet, and I've seen videos of parrots in the wild licking the dirt on a cliff for salt, but I've never heard of a salt block for tortoises.

Maybe take a look on the shelves at the pet store and see if there is a liquid mineral supplement that you can buy for birds. I would use it like you would vitamins...only once or twice a week, a couple drops on the food.

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Turtle just finished his breakfast (clover, dandelion and spring mix) and then, on purpose as he eats from a dish, took a mouthful of sand and ate it. I have play sand and aspen for his substrate and this is the first time I've seen him do that. He wasn't eating right when I got him and it took him a while to eat more than romaine but he is finally eating much better now but I'm guessing something is still missing in his system? What would cause him to do that?

I can't make a guess why he is eating sand. But I do know that you need to keep him really well hydrated to make sure all that sand passes. Maybe you should put a different substrate in his enclouser. Eco earth or orchid bark would be best...JMHO

 

[Clementine_3]

Thank you both.
I will be taking the sand out, I figured that as soon as I saw him eating it. I have other reptiles so am very familiar with the whole impaction thing and certainly don't want that for Turtle. I read up on substrates when I got him and thought I was doing right by him, which is obviously my goal here. I have a ton of aspen (used for the snakes) on hand and can use that...or is there something better? Eco-earth blended in with it? As with everything, there is much confusion on what is truly best for them. Safety and replicating the natural environment don't always go hand in hand in a captive situation.
I also have Herptivite that I use for my Leopard geckos, would that be sufficient as a vitamin or do you mean something else? I will certainly pick up whatever he needs.

 

[Yvonne G]

No, vitamins and minerals are two different things. What you need is a MINERAL supplement. Quite a few folks use aspen bedding, but you must bear in mind that it is a totally dry substrate, so you have to provide the humidity in other ways. If you use aspen for the habitat, then maybe you can put long-stemmed spagnum moss in the hide and moisten that. Or glue a sponge to the ceiling of the hide and keep it moist. But, wait a minute...I just remembered that Turtle is a little Greek, and I don't know anything about how to keep Greeks. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge will chime in here and see if my suggestions on humidity apply to little Greeks.

Yvonne[/b]

 

[Clementine_3]

The Herptivite is a vitamin/mineral mix/supplement, I should have been clearer on that. It has calcium, phosphorus, salt, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, copper, iodine, iron, manganese and zinc in addition to the vitamins.
His humidity right now is 37%, I believe that is a safe range for a Greek? Again, from my research with mixed results apparently, they should be kept in low humidity.
I will change him to aspen as I have plenty here, if it needs to be tweaked more it will be!